We’ve been reporting about two incoming developments, one on 15th Ave. NW and the other on Market St. Now we have the preliminary designs for both.
“The Apodment” is slated for the site of Mac’s Upholstery at 5011 15th Ave. The proposal is for 132 small efficiency dwelling units with no on-site parking (no longer required since it’s inside the Ballard Urban Center). Similar to the Vive nearby, it looks like it will have a big sign on the side.
When we talked to the owner of Mac’s Upholstery late last year, he said he has plans to move to a nearby property. Meanwhile, the city is installing a crosswalk and center divide at 15th and 53rd.
The next design review board meeting for the development is slated for July 16 at 6:30 pm at the Ballard Community Center.
To the west at 2417 NW Market St., a larger apartment complex is in the works to replace the building that includes Ballard Transfer and Twice Sold Tales.
The 6-story development will house 171 apartment units, 101 below-grade parking spots and ground-level retail space. It backs up to the railroad tracks, just to the north of the waterfront.
The architects say project goals include “respect the character and history of Ballard” both on the commercial side on Market St. and “the maritime industrial area in our backyard.” They also say they plan to “coordinate with the planned Burke Gilman Trail extension (which is) expected to start construction parallel to this project.” The Missing Link is slated to run along Market St. in front of the development on its way to Golden Gardens Park.
Both of these projects still need final design approval before moving ahead.
>They also say they plan to “coordinate with the planned Burke Gilman Trail extension (which is) expected to start construction parallel to this project.”
Well that’s refreshing. The new Nordic Museum doesn’t seem to acknowledge the trail one way or another
Can’t wait until Ballard feels just like any other condo cancer suburb, except with shrieking junkies and lots of filth. PROGRESS. UPZONE. DENSITY.
If enough ‘new yuppies’ move in, they’ll figure out a way to push all the junkies out. Give it a couple years, when all these young techies want to start families, they won’t be as welcoming to the junkie homeless filth as they are now. The pendulum always swings back…just give it time.
that crosswalk will be terrible for traffic. before someone starts shrieking about “cars bad”, that means buses also will have to hold up as one person crosses this busy arterial that already has a major intersection a whole two blocks away.
I’ll have to find a new route to work. Market and 24th are dead to me.
I have to agree with “homeless fiasco” above. There are lots of young moms already here that despise being screamed at by junkies in Ballard Commons and hate seeing needles in the parks. I think it lasts until the next election (next fall) and then Mo’B and a few others get voted out and we get some common sense replacements.
The usual suspects predicted *last* election was when everyone would kick O’Brien out. And that was when nickelsville was RiGHT THERE. Now that’s gone.
Don’t expect young moms to invigorate the dying Safe Seattle crowd. The operative word is young. The younger, the more they reject xenophobia and scapegoating. Building a 10,000 unit retirement apartment tower might give ‘get off my lawn’ the numbers it is sorely lacking. But otherwise, it’s the dustbin of history…
@ elenchos – Check out the townhall meeting in Ballard a couple of weeks ago. Easy to google as Komo recorded it. Mike gets hit by left, right, and center. Comedy Gold!
New things being built in Ballard. Time for everyone to freak the fuck out and somehow include bitching about homeless people in their rant about building of apartments.
Typical “Urban Density” Supporter:
>praises”density” and “rezoning” which equates to more cars packed onto arterials
>pushes bicycle commuting while number of cars doubles
>takes vacations to places with with pre-modern street grids and charming, human scale dwellings even while praising soulless brutalist architecture and giant lego box hellscapes. Northgate much?
>defends inept, corrupt DOT that can’t fix transportation “Ride more bikes, take the bus!” etc
>gets upset about traffic caused by density and votes for more taxes for DOT
>gives up after screwing up decent, livable neighborhoods in Seattle and moves to Boise, etc
Rinse, repeat, insult “Nimby’s” etc.
I keep forgetting you guys think that town hall was a great victory.
The whole city is laughing at you, and is embarrassed for you. That spotlight revealed you in all the wrong ways, Scared Seattle. It was a setback, nimbys. You were so much better under your rock where everyone just assumed nobody could be that bad. Now they know.
@Elenchos – Then why are you so desperate to post here, so often, as the Tokyo Rose for Mike O’Brien? See you in November, you strident nut.
Of 2019 :)
Just finished reading your blog and this is probably the most informative post ever. Thank you so much for the share.
@Stumpy: Yeah, it really gave Ballard a great reputation. I have friends and family, who read and watched the news about that train wreck of a meeting, asking when Ballard went nutters.
Luckily, all I have to do is tell them it was about a gang of Next Door lunatics that took over the meeting and they understand completely.
Not to mention, that meeting all but assured O’Brien’s reelection in 2019.
Nice! Grow Ballard grow!
So glad to see my neighborhood continue to become more and more of the place everyone wants to be.
Pathetic! and a special Pathetic to Andrew. He is probably 22 and thinks Over population is fun.
By the way it isn’t your neighborhood because you lived here for 2 years. Ballard was built on Fishing and Lumber. Thats where its core values were. Your ballard is based on lattes & fancy sunglasses.
To ELENCHOS “The whole city is laughing at you,” that is not saying much. This city has been slipping away since you and that brown cow on the city council started spewing.
Thats it.
I am one who voted for NO COMMENTS and mine is why.
Apparently developers can’t wait to get their hands on the remaining one story buildings, on 15th and Market streets. They put up complexes that don’t do anything at all to enhance living in Ballard. Due to those buildings having very little off-street parking, they actually make it less enjoyable to live there. You have to hope that Target has parking. The traffic alone will add to your mayhem. How long until St. Alphonsus recognizes how much they could sell their playfield/Christmas tree lot for? It’s only a matter of time until you’ll need a day pass just to drive thru Ballard! Come to Surprise, AZ where the weather is good and there’s NO traffic!!
Wow, racism, classism, NIMBYism, all in one relatively short comment section. I saw that “meeting announcement” on NextDoor for last month’s open house at Trinity UC that twisted the actual meeting announcement language almost beyond recognition, so I know it’s mostly malicious trolls skewing the dialogue. But even knowing this is only a small percentage of my neighbors, this is pretty depressing.
Pretty buildings.
I’ve owned a Ballard home for twenty years, and I’m going to sell it to another young family as my baby is big now, and buy one of those awful Ballard condos some of you complain about, because I love Ballard, and density is good, and I’m not going to be chased out of my neighborhood.
Anybody know what the pricing for Apodments like this general is around here?
Honestly, I can’t afford anything else and I’m rarely home so just a place with a bed and a tiny bit of storage is all I need.
More affordable housing the city council supposedly cares so much about, NOT.
Spoke to a couple young teachers today about this very issue. They didn’t support the head tax referendum because they think the money will help the affordable housing situation. I said, the city already has what it needs and can address the issue with zoning, permitting, and managed growth. This is just a latest example of the city saying one thing and condoning another. Mike Obrien are you listening?
“I said the city already has what it needs”
Well, you’re wrong about that, plain and simple. Yes, zoning certainly needs to change so as not to be skewed single-family residential, but to say the city has all the money it needs to address this problem is ignorant.
Also, your little anecdote about teachers doesn’t really make any sense.
This really looks great on paper, let’s wait for the real thing.
Hope they use some heat recovery units.
This is the good news that new residential apartment building work starts in Ballard. Thnku for sharing the complete information about a property.